La Faculté accueille une nouvelle directrice du développement; Mark Walters nommé doyen de la Faculté de droit de l’Université Queen’s; McGill News s’entretient avec le ministre de la justice David Lametti; et nos professeur.e.s prennent la tribune.
Welcoming Heather Powers as Director of Development
The Faculty of Law is pleased to welcome Heather Powers to our University Advancement team, in charge of promoting engagement within our alumni community and fundraising for Faculty priorities. Heather will be rejoining University Advancement at McGill, having worked as a senior development officer responsible for the Parents’ Program in 2008–2009. Her previous experience also includes working as Assistant Director of University Planned Giving at Harvard University. Since 2010, Heather has been working for Centraide of Greater Montreal. Aside from her extensive professional experience, Heather has a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University and is a proud McGill graduate (MBA’07 in international management). “Hearing stories of great experiences here at McGill Law is an honour,” she said. “And I am looking forward to dreaming with our alums about how the Faculty can impact our students and the world in McGill’s third century.”
The Faculty of Law also thanks Naomi Shrier, who has taken on a new opportunity at McGill as Senior Development Officer, Western USA. A valued member of the Faculty of Law’s Development team for five years, Naomi Shrier has played key roles in many Faculty philanthropic and engagement initiatives. She hopes to meet with some Law graduates in California soon!
Nouvelles en rafale
- Andrea K. Bjorklund a été élue vice-présidente du conseil exécutif de la Société américaine pour le droit international (ASIL)
- With mixed feelings of sadness and pride, the Faculty of Law is saying goodbye to Mark Walters, F. R. Scott Professor of Public and Constitutional Law, who has been appointed Dean of Law at Queen’s University.
- Víctor Muñiz-Fraticelli a reçu une bourse New Directions de la Fondation Mellon pour poursuivre des études en théologie afin de complémenter ses recherches interdisciplinaires.
- Payam Akhavan and Frédéric Mégret were promoted to the rank of Full Professor
From McGill Law professor to justice minister
McGill News interviewed law professor turned justice minister David Lametti, BCL’89, LLB’89, on the path he took from Chancellor Day Hall to Parliament Hill, on his punk rock influences, on being mentored by Rod Macdonald, and on the unique challenges of his recent appointment. Read the profile
Santé: des enfants de parents migrants victimes de discrimination
François Crépeau, Le Devoir, 16 avril 2019
La Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) refuse d’admettre au régime public d’assurance maladie les enfants de parents migrants si ceux-ci n’y sont pas admissibles, même lorsque ces enfants sont nés au Québec et sont donc des citoyens canadiens, dénonce le professeur Crépeau. Poursuivre la lecture…
Communauté et enracinement: Entrevue avec le professeur Aaron Mills
Simon Tardif, Le délit, 9 avril 2019
Simon Tardif s’est entretenu avec le professeur Mills pour parler des principes fondamentaux de la philosophie des Anishinaabe, des différences entre le droit constitutionnel canadien et les lois autochtones, et de l’enracinement comme mode de pensée. Poursuivre la lecture…
Encore: The what, why and where to of Quebec’s Bill 21
Shauna Van Praagh, The Lawyer’s Daily, 8 April 2019
“Introduced in March 2019 in Quebec’s National Assembly, Bill 21 purports to affirm the particular secular character of Quebec by articulating foundational principles and the precise requirements to which they give rise. In the end, the bill says as much or more about Quebec’s self-understanding as it does about members of religious communities. It introduces prohibitions unnecessary to meet the objective of ensuring religious neutrality of contemporary state institutions.” Keep reading…
Should Universities Get Out of the Patent Business?
Richard Gold, Centre for International Governance Innovation blog, 3 April 2019
“A central plank in Canadian innovation policy is that universities drive innovation by patenting their research outputs and licensing those patents to willing firms. Rather than drive innovation, however, this policy hampers it, because universities are poor patent managers. To improve Canadian innovation, universities need to get out of the patent business.” Keep reading…
Brexit and the Rights of UK Nationals in the EU
Frédéric Mégret, Cambridge Core Blog, 1 April 2019
The fate of UK citizens in the European Union in a Brexit context is perhaps not the biggest issue on the Brexit agenda and, as a potential stumbling block, it seems dwarfed by the ‘backstop’ – but it does raise deeper questions about how large their interests should loom in the negotiation process. By committing to pull out of the European Union, the UK has potentially significantly impaired the situation of those expatriates, a useful reminder that diasporas are exposed to the decisions of their home country and often on the frontline of other countries’ reaction to it. Read the full blog post.
Opinion : Loi sur la laïcité, un bien pauvre projet de société
Robert Leckey, La Presse, 26 mars 2019
« En outre, il vaut la peine de scruter le message qu’enverrait la loi Jolin-Barrette aux minorités religieuses. La loi dirait à certains enfants de ne pas rêver à devenir enseignant ou policier. L’effet de la loi serait de réserver un groupe d’emplois payés à même des fonds publics – d’ailleurs, la plupart d’entre eux sont de bons boulots syndicalisés – aux gens qui n’osent pas manifester leur appartenance religieuse. » Lire la suite…
Pour en lire plus de Robert Leckey sur la Loi sur la laïcité :
- Un gouvernement de sondeurs ou de leaders (La Presse)
- Quebec’s religious symbols ban is striking not for its novelty, but for its unfortunate familiarity (CBC News)
- Quebec secularism legislation (CTV News)
- Quebec to invoke notwithstanding clause to prevent Charter challenges of religious-symbols ban (The Globe and Mail)
- Here are the jobs subject to Quebec’s proposed religious symbols ban (the list is longer than you’d think) (CBC News)
- Quebec bill bans religious symbols for public workers, uses notwithstanding clause (CTV News)
- Notwithstanding clause could stop debate over Quebec’s secularism bill before it starts (CBC News)
UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Angela Campbell, Associate Provost, Equity & Academic Policies, The McGill Reporter, 18 March 2019
March 21 is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The date is marked by the United Nations to commemorate 69 peaceful demonstrators killed when police opened fire on a crowd protesting apartheid pass laws in Sharpeville, South Africa, on this date in 1960.
The work needed to build communities that embrace diversity is continuous and difficult. It requires willingness to examine critically questions of equity in the spaces where we live, learn and work. This means discerning who is represented in these spaces, and who feels supported and able flourish there. It also means taking effective measures where we identify equity gaps and shortcomings. Keep reading…
Interview with Robert Leckey
Daniel Goldwater, Viva Voce, 29 January 2019
“Daniel asks Robert what distinguishes McGill and why anyone should get a legal education in the first place when Google exists. Thorny questions about diversity, campus radicalism and anglophone-francophone relations are fielded. Daniel says “every law is a crime against liberty” and, well, Robert schools him. Together, they offer their views on community, the tension between intellect and emotion and the future of legal discourse in the age of social media.” Watch the interview or read the transcript…
Nos professeur.e.s dans les manchettes
- François Crépeau: Opinion: Rather than Bill 21, let’s have pluralistic secularism (Montreal Gazette)
- Evan Fox-Decent and Victor M. Muniz-Fraticelli: Opinion: Courts, not MNAs, must be the arbiters of rights (Montreal Gazette)
- Daniel Weinstock: Le projet de loi est-il raciste? (Le Devoir)
- Armand de Mestral et Andrea Bjorklund: Brexit repoussé et avenir incertain (La Presse)
- Brian Havel: Boeing 737 MAX – Ottawa convaincu par de « nouvelles données » (La Presse)
New publications
Canada’s Legal Traditions: Sources of Unification, Diversification or Inspiration?
Rosalie Jukier, Journal of Civil Law Studies, 14 March 2019
Quebec, the only province within Canada to follow the civil law tradition, is an ideal microcosm for the study of unity and diversity within legal orders. The question of whether Quebec’s civilian legal tradition should be interpreted and applied so as to be in unity with the common law or, rather, adhere to its own distinct legal culture has pervaded doctrine and jurisprudence for over a century. Interestingly, the pendulum has swung widely. Read the full article on SSRN.
Everyday Transgressions by Adelle Blackett
In her new book Everyday Transgressions: Domestic Workers’ Transnational Challenge to International Labor Law (Cornell University Press, 2019), Adelle Blackett tells the story behind the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention No. 189, and its accompanying Recommendation No. 201, which in 2011 created the first comprehensive international standards to extend fundamental protections and rights to the millions of domestic workers laboring in other peoples’ homes throughout the world. Learn more…
High Time, co-edited by Daniel Weinstock
Legalization of cannabis will have a serious impact on the country’s international treaty commitments, interprovincial relations, taxation and regulatory regimes, and social and health policies. Co-edited by Daniel Weinstock and Andrew Potter, and bringing together analysis by policy makers and scholars, including the architect of marijuana legislation in Portugal – a trailblazing jurisdiction – High Time The Legalization and Regulation of Cannabis in Canada (2019, McGill-Queen’s University Press) provides an urgent and necessary overview of Canada’s Cannabis Act. Learn more…
Review of 175 Years of Persecution, a History of the Babis & Baha’is of Iran by Payam Akhavan
Payam Akhavan has reviewed the English translation of “175 Years of Persecution, a History of the Babis & Baha’is of Iran,” by Fereydun Vahman: “a historical epic, a labor of love, and a moral challenge.” Learn more…
Review of Exemptions: Necessary, Justified or Misguided? by Daniel Weinstock
Daniel Weinstock has reviwed Exemptions: Necessary, Justified or Misguided? by Kent Greenawalt. “In what circumstances, if any, should individuals and collective agents such as churches and corporations be granted exemptions from laws and policies that apply to the broader society? Are exemptions in all circumstances regrettable, or can they sometimes serve the collective interest? … These questions have become particularly salient and divisive in many modern societies.” Learn more…